Mark Tremonti needs no introduction. His reputation as one of the most respected guitar players of the current century has been solidified by his unique talent, something that he says has taken years to accomplish. He is humble, he is smart, he is genuine. And on a hot and humid Florida morning last month, he called to talk about his past, his present and his future.
What is going on in your musical world right now, Mark?
Alter Bridge just finished the Carnival Of Madness tour. Now we have a month off and I’ll be tracking my solo record while I’m at home and then we leave October 19 for Europe for about five or six weeks. After that we’ll get into some new Creed music for next year.
So Creed will be recording a new album? That’s great.
Right now, I’m recording my solo album and then I’ll start getting together with Scott Stapp on putting together a Creed record around next year.
Tell me a little more about your new solo record.
It’ll be the first quarter of next year when we’ll start releasing it. We’re going to do it a little different. I think we’ll do two new songs a week for about seven weeks before we release the physical copy of the record in the end.
You must be excited?
Yeah, we’re going to put it all through Fret12.com and you can download it from there.
Well, let’s talk about your life before Creed and Alter Bridge. Where did you grow up and what kind of kid were you?
Well, I grew up in Detroit, Michigan, had two older brothers and played soccer and played guitar starting when I was eleven years old. Pretty much all the kids that I grew up with were into heavy metal music so I listened to a lot of heavy metal as a kid.
Is that why you wanted to play guitar?
No, I just kind of wanted to do it on my own. Nobody really in the family played any kind of musical instruments. I was just into the guitar and was just drawn to it.
You make it look so easy. Was it natural when you first started playing?
No, it’s never been easy. It’s always been a difficult challenge over the years and I’m still just a student. It’s a never-ending process.
Was that the only instrument you wanted to play?
Well, I started like everybody else with the recorder in school and you had to pick a real instrument so I started playing trumpet in grade school for a few years. Then I stopped until I got my guitar. I actually tracked bass guitar on the third Creed album. So if you can play guitar you can somewhat play bass. It’s just a different mindset. I can’t play fingerstyle bass.
What was the first band that you really got into?
I think Metallica was the band that really turned me into a big music fan, listening to the Master Of Puppets record one evening when I couldn’t fall asleep really and I fell in love with it. From that night on I was pretty dedicated.
What was the first album that you bought?
I think the first album that I actually bought was J Geils Band Love Stinks. I bought that before I became a fan of heavy metal. I think other than that it was Beastie Boys Licensed To Ill or something was like the second or third record I bought.
What was the first concert that you went to?
Iron Maiden was my first concert with Frehley’s Comet opening up. I was probably in seventh grade.
What did you think? Were you blown away?
Oh yeah, it was great. I made it all the way up to the front row. You know when you’re a young kid they usually let you scoot by so that was wonderful.
Tell me about the first band that you were in.
The first band that I was in was called Diversion and I was probably twelve or thirteen years old. It was more of a punk/metal sloppy kind of a band. We were only in that band, I think, for about a year and a half before two bands kind of made it switch to one band. You know, we took the best members of both bands and formed a band called Wit’s End. The singer of Wit’s End, Kevin Barnes, is now in a band called of Montreal, which has had pretty good underground success.
Do you remember the first time that you got up in front of an audience to play?
I think I was with Wit’s End playing at, I think, St Paul’s Church, the only place you could play with a young band. We couldn’t go out and play bars and they used to open up their cafeteria for local small bands. And it was funny cause it was a church with a lot of these young metal bands going in there and singing like Slayer songs (laughs). It was funny.
Were you nervous?
Yeah, I was nervous. I’d think about the shows for weeks and weeks before we played them.
You’re not nervous anymore obviously.
No, no, we’ve done it a lot now (laughs)
You went to college, majoring in Finance, so you’re obviously a smart guy. Were you like that in high school, having all A’s?
Well, I was good in math, always got A’s in that but I was never a big book reader when I was young. Now I’m a massive book reader. But I never read books in high school or college. I’d always kind of skate by somehow. But math was my strong subject for sure.
Did you end up getting your degree in college?
No, I was just about to get my undergraduate degree when we got a record deal.
I heard that you worked at Chili’s.
Yeah, when we got our deal that’s the last place I worked.
When you were working there, did you feel like you were basically biding your time waiting for the big music moment to happen?
The whole time I worked there I kind of felt that I was going to be a musician one day. I always had a back-up plan with school and I was realistic about that but I felt like if I tried hard enough and was dedicated enough I could somehow make it.
And you did.
Yeah (laughs)
Do you remember the first song you ever wrote?
I still have all my old tapes, my four track recordings from when I was in Junior High School and was recording music for the first time. That’s really what I was as a developing musician, I was more of a songwriter. I didn’t really focus on being a fast or technical guitar player. I just kind of strummed through it and learned on my own slowly over the years and tried to write songs.
Does songwriting come easy to you?
Writing songs has always been more natural for me than the actual technique of playing. That takes a lot of work.
Do you remember the first real rock star that you met?
I think my parents dropped me off at a signing where Megadeth was signing autographs and I remember I had a poster that just had Dave Mustaine on it. And Dave Ellefson just passed it over for him to sign and I was kind of upset that Dave Ellefson didn’t sign it. And now that I’m grown up and in the business, I’ve run into Dave so many times and he’s such a nice guy. I can’t remember if I’ve told him that story but I’ve got to meet him many times.
What is your all-time favorite album and what makes it so special to you?
I would say that Master Of Puppets was probably the big one for me, one that really transformed me into a music fanatic and gave me my roots. That’s been the most influential record for me.
And would you say they’ve been the biggest influence on you as a musician?
Yeah, I’d probably have to say Metallica. They were the band that just lit that fire into me becoming a die-hard musician.
Have you talked to Kirk and James about playing guitar?
Yeah, lots of times. We’ve played many shows with them and I’ve had time to chat with Kirk a few times and James and Rob and Lars, you know. I’ve probably talked with Kirk the most. He’s a very nice guy and we’ve got to watch Metallica from behind the drum set onstage in front of like sixty-thousand people a few times now, cause we always end up with them over in Europe doing festivals and a lot of the guys that have worked for us in the past has worked for Metallica. So they always come over and get us a side-stage view.
If you happen to be a fan of Anthrax, then you’re going to love next week’s column. The always-jovial Frank Bello took some time to talk with me about his youth in the Bronx and what actually turned him into a bass player.
